On March 9, in an intercollegiate baseball match between Rawlings College and Concordia University, Zhang Yanyida, who was a sophomore at Rawlings College, performed well, losing no points in three innings, 5 strikeouts, 2 guarantees, only 2 hits, and finally won the shot. Zhang Yanyida, who walked out of the MLB Baseball Development Center, is growing into a good pitcher.
In the two years since he came to the United States to study, Zhang Yanyida's life has undergone earth-shaking changes. In terms of academics and training, he has always maintained a balanced state. As he puts it, "Everyone here works hard. ”
Left-handed study, right-handed baseball
In fact, as early as a hundred years ago, Cai Yuanpei, president of Peking University, once said: Complete personality, the first is in sports. Today, the relationship between physical education, academics, and even personality building is becoming more and more obvious.
In this exploration, there is no shortage of professional institutions involved. Taking baseball as an example, MLB Major League Baseball has successively set up MLB Baseball Development Centers in Wuxi, Changzhou and Nanjing since 2009, which has become an early institution for cultivating comprehensive sports talents in baseball sports, aiming to cultivate more outstanding Chinese baseball players through the purest major league system.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the Chinese men's national baseball team reached the top 8 and won the third place in the 2005 and 2019 Asian Championships. But that's not enough. MLB hopes to help China cultivate its own talents and cultivate Yao Ming in the baseball world. MLB Baseball Development Center, integrating the experience of american school sports and China's actual national conditions, adhering to the "combination of sports and education", people-oriented education concept, growth and education as the primary core, and gradually explored a set of scientific training system tailored for Chinese teenagers.
While cultivating outstanding baseball talents, it also takes into account the teaching of coursework, so that students have more choices in the future, whether they are studying in college or entering professional leagues. This also makes "left-handed study, right-handed baseball" gradually become a mature norm.
From China to the world, MLB baseball trains with sports people
"Life is not only about success, it's also full of failures and frustrations. Baseball taught me how to live, how to overcome failures and take responsibility. As a former professional player, Zhang Baoshu, who is now the head coach of mlb baseball development center, vividly explains the mutually reinforcing relationship between sports and comprehensive youth development.
At the same time, MLB has also proved with practical actions that under its advanced training system, young students have a broader space for academic development while improving their baseball skills. To date, the MLB Baseball Development Center has produced 114 graduates. Among them, 84 have received scholarships to study at domestic and foreign universities, and 7 have signed mlb professional teams. There are also 34 players who have represented national teams of different age classes.
Recently, Ding Ruofei, a student who is still in his third year of high school, entered the fast lane of American colleges and universities in advance through baseball and was admitted to Northern Kentucky University.
Sonandaj, a Tibetan boy from Qinghai, has a completely different path in life from the children in his hometown. Baseball changed his destiny, and in the eyes of his friends in his hometown, going to the United States to study was still a distant dream. Sonandaj has successfully obtained a scholarship to study at a university in the United States with his own struggle and the planning of his development center.
Not long ago, Rick Dell, general manager of baseball development in Asia Pacific at Major League Baseball, visited graduates of the MLB Baseball Development Center in the United States. They have successfully entered american universities, and while studying, they are also excellent student athletes.
Feng Qiang has played the academy competition for two semesters. Zeke Michim, a baseball coach at Arizona Western College, had high expectations of him, and the coach said of him, "I think he has a lot of potential in offense. He is also very good at defending in two corner positions. So just need to train his physical fitness. Let his physical fitness better prepare for the academy competition.
With the addition of huadan cairang and other new students in December last year, there are more and more Chinese players on the baseball team. "Physically, maybe the players from Asia are better than the players in our past rosters. They have the ability to play American College Games. Coach Zeke Michim said firmly.
Dedicated to the discovery of young talents, MLB has become a Chinese baseball dream factory
The core of MLB's philosophy in cultivating top baseball talents in China is to emphasize the balance between academics and training.
While emphasizing baseball training, coursework is also an important part of each student's daily learning. Zhao Zixu, a player at mlbed Nanjing Baseball Development Center, is currently a third-year student, and according to him, the proportion of learning and training in the development center is basically equal. Classes are held all day on Mondays and Tuesdays, training is held after the course is completed from Wednesday to Friday, and training is held all day on weekends. Baseball training replaces not the time of study, but strengthens time management, and combines the time that is vacant and playing games in daily life to do what everyone loves - playing baseball. This is in line with the educational philosophy of American colleges and universities, and we can also see this from the body of Gu Ailing, the star athlete of this Winter Olympic Games.
Baseball education at american universities imposes two strict requirements on students. One is to play a high-level baseball game, for any player, daily baseball training is not an easy task. Another reason is that the team members still have to go to classes, take exams, and prepare papers like other ordinary college students. Schools don't put water on academic standards because they have to play games. Sport is part, not much, of college education. Balancing academic and athletic dual identities is reflected in the U.S. college education system.
It is based on this training model that the MLB Baseball Development Center has also outlined a vision for the future development of China - we are not looking for Yao Ming of Chinese baseball, but to cultivate Yao Ming of Chinese baseball. A good training model has been established, and chinese baseball talents can continue to emerge in the future. When we look at it from the perspective of the beginning, it is not difficult to find that the establishment of this vision is like creating a "dream factory" for baseball in China.
Since 2015, 19-year-old Xu Guiyuan signed a contract with the Baltimore Orioles to become the "first person to land in the United States" cultivated by the MLB Baseball Development Center, the new training model represented by MLB has been recognized by the industry. At the same time, more and more talents are gradually floating on the surface.
Recently, Zhao Lun, a star player who is popular in small league games, is also from the MLB Baseball Development Center. In November 2021, Zhao Lun was invited to participate in the Autumn League AFL competition, and he also became the first Chinese mainland player in history to appear in the AFL. Among the players who get the opportunity in the Autumn League, there is a 60% chance that they can gain a foothold in the major league in the future, which shows that Zhao Lun's future is more worthy of people's expectations. In fact, in the autumn league game, Zhao Lun has made great progress compared to his performance in the minor league games.
The training model drives the development of talents, and MLB helps Chinese baseball
The development of baseball and the industry is ultimately related to groups, venues, and competitions. In recent years, as baseball is gradually receiving social attention, the base of baseball fans and enthusiasts is multiplying, and baseball has become the fourth sport to have a national professional league after the football basketball team.
The increase in the number of participants has spawned the development of the venue, and the huge potential brought by the continental baseball and baseball industry is about to be unleashed. According to statistics, between 2016 and 2019, the number of youth baseball training venues in mainland China increased from 35 to 64, nearly doubling the number.
In order to actively welcome the Hangzhou Asian Games, as a newly built key venue, the Hangzhou Asian Games Baseball (Soft) Ball Sports and Culture Center is about to be completed, which marks the completion of the six single venues. Due to the large footprint of the baseball field, a professional baseball stadium is precious in the city of land. The professional development of Chinese baseball was once plagued by insufficient venues and difficulties in carrying out international high-level competitions. Nowadays, more and more professional venues are used as a boost to bring the gospel to baseball fans.
The increase in specialized venues year by year has in turn provided a good training and competition environment for the sustainable development of baseball. In 2021, the MLB CUP Junior Baseball Open spanned nearly 20 cities across the country and attracted nearly 6,000 young players. This year's new season, MLB specially co-organized with the Beijing Baseball Association to open the spring competition In Beijing. In the future, with the continuous development of the scale of venues, fans and participants, MLB China is confident to further cover more cities and provide more baseball fans with a diversified, professional and systematic baseball sports experience, including baseball public welfare courses, youth events and professional training.
At the same time, baseball fans' heartstrings are also touched by a documentary about Chinese baseball, "Chasing the Ball", which is about to be released. MLB teamed up with Japanese documentary filmmaker Ryo Takeuchi to take everyone into Chinese baseball under the camera.
In the view of Qi Dong, managing director of MLB China, "Baseball does not overemphasize confrontation, but it can mobilize the muscles and joints of the whole body, which is suitable for children to participate." The sport also has a strong sense of ceremony, paying attention to teamwork, so that children can grow up in the process of participation. ”
MLB is committed to the cultivation of Chinese baseball talents and promotes the development of talents with a scientific training model. The rapid development of baseball in China, in turn, has enhanced the industry and the public's recognition of the "one hand baseball, one hand academic" model advocated by the MLB Baseball Development Center, coupled with a set of development paths based on China's national conditions, with countless Xu Guiyuan being trained and successful, the model advocated by MLB is full of imagination.
Although the future of Chinese baseball is still a long way off, it is undoubtedly the right way to go down this road. The MLB Baseball Development Center is determined to cultivate chinese youth baseball talents and deepen the popularity of baseball in China and the development of reserve talents.